On 09/05/2023 05:00, Nicholas D Steeves wrote:
It's what at least two users want
Intention of my bug report is to ensure that it was a conscious decision
to keep a bit outdated Org version. I hope, only a small part of users
will really notice the difference with built-in version. I consider
Org-9.6 as desired, but unrealistic, a dummy package as a compromise.
Release notes can
advise the former to remove elpa-org, but we shouldn't advise
elpa-org-contrib users to use 'equivs' to make emacs Provide a virtual
elpa-org.
If you are against equivs then elpa-org dependency must be dropped from
elpa-org-contrib. Unfortunately the latter requires a change of a
package in testing.
You're describing the "dummy package" approach. I was advocating for
the "virtual package" approach (with version-qualified Provides <- this
is key)
There is a minor issue with the dummy package approach. Some (I hope
rare) users may try to install emacs-27 from bullseye and dummy elpa-org
(if it would be uploaded to bookworm at all of course) getting Org
version (emacs built-in) significantly less than they may expect from
the version of the elpa-org Debian package.
The following consideration are mostly concerning trixie, but still
might affect current decision.
Adding Org version to emacs-el "Provides" is a reasonable idea since
org-contrib, at least formally, does not require latest Org release,
however it is possible that Package-Requires inside the .el file was not
up to date. So likely org-contrib may be run with built-in Org.
However I think "elpa-org" is a bit confusing name for virtual package.
Something like emacs-pkg-org in both emacs-el and elpa-org may be better.
https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=1033400#25
suggests to not ship Org in the emacs-el Debian package. Certainly it is
possible to split built-in Org into a separate package and to add it to
"Recommends" of emacs-el. However it increases maintenance cost while
benefits are not clear to me. Perhaps it is better to discuss splitting
in #1033400.
I think, users who relies on latest Org features and fixes, stick to
other methods than elpa-org Debian package (and sometimes are bitten by
e.g. package.el bugs). It is another reason to respect Debian release
policy, but be more carefully with updates in future.
